Team Stats

Passing Yards

Rushing Yards

Turnovers

Time of Poss.

ALLIANCE, Ohio – A valiant comeback
attempt by No. 15 Wesley came up just short as it fell to No.
1 Mount Union, 62-59, in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Saturday
afternoon at Mount Union Stadium. The Wolverines conclude the
season at 10-3 while the Purple Raiders move to 13-0 and will take
on North Central in the Semifinals on December 14.

Sophomore quarterback Joe Callahan made NCAA
and Wesley College history completing 35-of-52 passes for 633 yards
and eight touchdowns. His yardage and touchdown totals break his
own Wesley single-game record and his eight TD passes is a NCAA
Division III Playoff record. His 633 passing yards are also
the fourth-most in NCAA Division III history.

Callahan's most frequent target was junior wide receiver
Steve Koudossou who caught 11 passes for a Wesley
single-game record 273 yards and two touchdowns. Koudossou is
now the Wolverines all-time leader with 150 career receptions for
2,508 yards. Jeremiah Howe (6-101-1) and
Bryce Shade (3-102-2) also went over the century
mark receiving which is the first time that Wesley has had three
100-yard receivers in a single-game.

Things could not have been scripted much worse for the
Wolverines in the first quarter as they fell behind, 14-0 just 82
seconds into the game. After Mount Union returned the opening
kickoff to its 33-yardline, BJ Mitchell took the
first play from scrimmage 67 yards for a touchdown.
Callahan's second down pass was then deflected and intercepted, and
Kevin Burke hit Sherman Wilkinson
for a 23-yard touchdown on the very next play to go up by 14
points.

With the momentum in their favor, the Raiders then recovered
their onside kick attempt but the Wolverines defense, led by junior
Sosthene Kapepula who tallied a game-high 11
tackles with a tackle for loss, forced a turnover on downs.
Kapepula finished the season with 110 tackles, becoming just the
eighth Wolverine to tally over 100 tackles twice in a career. Both
teams then traded three-and-outs, but after a second-straight drive
that resulted in no first downs, Wesley punted and Luc
Meacham returned it 76 yards a touchdown to extend the
lead.

Two more interceptions thrown by Callahan led to ten Mount Union
points, who led 31-0 after the first quarter.

Jamar Baynard put Wesley on the board with
11:40 left in the second quarter, the first of three second quarter
touchdown passes thrown by Callahan, with the others going to Howe
and Koudossou. A field goal by Mount Union's
EdwardRuhnke as time expired in
the second quarter gave the Purple Raiders a 48-20 halftime
lead.

The Wolverines scored all of the points in the third quarter
with both drives culminating in passing touchdowns to Baynard, who
caught seven passes for 74 yards and three scores. Coming into the
game, Baynard, a Middletown High School product, had just nine
catches for 66 yards. Kyle George had an identical
74 receiving yards on six grabs.

A 16-yard touchdown strike to Shade with 11:51 left in the
fourth made the ballgame a one touchdown game at 48-41 with 11:51
left to play. However, Mount Union was quick to respond with a
seven-play, 79 yard drive that ended with a 41 yard touchdown pass
to Wilkinson with 8:46 remaining.

Callahan then led the Navy & White on another quick
downfield drive, completing 4-of-5 passes for 56 yards to get
inside the Mount Union 10-yard line. On a second down play,
Callahan scrambled right but was picked off by Tre
Jones in the endzone, who took it out and was tackled by
Shade at the one-yard line.

On the very next play, defensive tackles Brenton
Barnes and Payton Rose stuffed BJ
Mitchell for a safety, making the score 55-43 in favor of
the Purple Raiders with 5:45 left in regulation.

Wesley was unable to capitalize on the extra possession as it
fumbled the free kick, allowing Mount Union to take over inside the
red zone. After two runs by Mitchell only gained one yard, Burke
took the read option run 16 yards for a score, extending the lead
to 62-43 with 3:51 left to play, and setting a new record for
combined points in a Wesley football game.

On the very next drive, Callahan hit Shade down the middle of
the field and he outran the Raider defenders for an 81-yard score
with 2:54 left to play.

Jon Storck's squib kick then went out of
bounds, giving Mount Union the ball at its own 36-yardline.
Mitchell was limited to just two yards on each of the first two
plays and after a Wesley timeout with 2:06 left, Malik
Jones beat the tackle and sacked Burke for a five-yard
loss, leading to another timeout and a punt which was fair caught
by Shade at the Wesley-28 with less than two minutes to play.

Just like the Johns Hopkins playoff game two weeks ago,
Koudossou got the ball from Callahan when it mattered most.
Callahan first found his speedy receiver for 16 yards and again for
a 56-yard score. Head Coach Mike Drass then
went for two and Callahan once again scrambled right and found
George open in the endzone, making it a field goal game with 1:30
left.

With just one timeout remaining, Wesley's onside kick
attempt was no good and Mount Union ran out the clock to advance to
the seal the victory despite allowing its most points in a Playoff
game.

Burke finished 16-of-27 for 280 yards and three scores while
also rushing for two touchdowns for the Purple Raiders who did not
turn the ball over once today compared to six for the
Wolverines. Mitchell finished with 27 carries for 134 yards
but after the first play from scrimmage was held to just another 67
yards on 26 carries.